Page 4-Friday, January 18, 1980-The Michigan Daily

The peace threat doesn't come

from Moscow

By the Young Socialist Alliance

President Carter claims the presence of
Soviet troops in Afghanistan is "the greatest
threat to peace since the Second World War."
Democratic and Republican politicians and
the big-business news media are trying to con-
vince American working people that our in-
terests are threatened because Soviet troops
are helping Afghan workers and peasants
defend their country from right-wing bands.
TO COMBAT THIS "Soviet threat," Carter
calls on us to support a series of retaliatory
measures. These will mean more sacrifices
from American working people:
" lower prices to farmers as grain sales are
cancelled;
" fewer jobs as trade with the Soviet Union is
curtailed;
"rhigher taxes and more inflation as the war
budget is jacked up to even higher levels.
Meanwhile, the State Department dismisses
as "ridiculous" charges by the Soviet and
Afghan governments that the CIA was
organizing the right-wing guerrillas in
Afghanistan with the aim of establishing a
power base right on the Soviet border.
But American people have every reason to be
suspicious of these U.S. government denials.
We've heard such pleas of innocence before.
WE WERE ASSURED that the Pentagon was
not bombing Laos during the 1960s and 70s.
We were told that Washington had nothing to
do with the South African invasion of Angola in
1975.
The White House protested all reports that
the CIA plotted to assassinate Cuban President
Fidel Castro.
Washington denied it had anything to do with
the overthrow of the Allende regime in Chile.
In each case, the facts later surfaced and
Washington's lies were exposed.
To understand what is really going on in
Afghanistan, we have to step back and look at
why the impoverished Afghan people have
been fighting to better their lives.
AFGHANISTAN, A MOUNTAINOUS land-
locked country about the size of Texas, is one of

the world's poorest countries. Annual per
capita income is $160. It was long ruled by a
repressive and corrupt monarchy, replaced in
1973 by a dictatorship under Mohammed
Daoud.
With economic power in the hands of big lan-
downers and a few capitalists, Afghanistan was
a land of inequality and oppression. Five per
cent of the population owned half of the arable
land.
The infant mortality rate was 50 per cent.
Ninety per cent of the 18 million people were
illiterate. Over half the population, which is
mostly peasants, suffered from respiratory
diseases.
DAOUD DEVELOPED closer and closer ties
to the Shah of Iran and the U.S. government.
The shah's dreaded SAVAK secret police
moved into Afghanistan to hunt down suspec-
ted political dissidents. The death penalty was
imposed for opposition political activities.
Then, in April 1978, the Afghan masses rose
up and fought to change these oppressive con-
ditions-as the Iranian masses were to do later
that year.
Tens of thousands of Afghan workers and
peasants took to the streets, a section of the
army rebelled, and a new government came to
power. It announced and began to implement a
series of important social reforms:
" Extensive land and water-rights
redistribution was begun.
" The peasants' debts t'o big landlords were
cancelled.
. Trade unions were legalized for the first
time.
" Oppressed nationalities were for the first
time allowed newspapers in their own
languages.
" A massive literacy campaign was
initiated.
" Schools and medical centers began to be
built in the rural areas.
" The sale of femalechildren was outlawed
and compulsory schooling was extended to in-
clude young women.
ALL THESE PROGRESSIVE measures
would be supported by American workers and
farmers if they knew about them. But the U.S.

news media has suppressed the facts.
Washington never said a word to protest
Daoud's vicious repression, nor lifted a finger
to improve social conditions in Afghanistan.
But it immediately set out to strangle the gains
of the Afghan masses. Just two months after
the revolution, Carter cut off all economic aid
programs to Afghanistan. American officials
tried to block loans destined to help develop
that country.

Unable to launch a direct military interven-
tion because of the deep sentiments of
American working people against another
Vietnam-type war, Washington has sought to
carry out its operations through inter-
mediaries. In this case it has mainly been
through the U.S. dominated military dictator-
ship in Pakistan. The Pakistani government
provides bases for the right-wing guerrillas,
money to buy arms, military training, and free
access across the Afghanistan border.

If the Afghan and Soviet forces are suc-
cessful in defeating the reactionary right-wing
offensive, the Afghan people will be in a much
better position to achieve their aspirations.
The Soviet move in Afghan has also put a big
crimp in Washington's war drive against Iran,
making it harder for Carter to drag us into
another Vietnam there. It has gained time for
the masses in Nicaragua to advance their
struggles with less danger of U.S. intervention.
It is a sharp blow to the U.S. rulers' effbrts to
hold back popular revolutionary upheavals
throughout the world.
THE REAL THREAT to peace and to the in-
terest of American workers and farmers comes
from Washington, not Moscow. The real threat
is Carter's campaign to aid the right-wing
Afghan guerrillas, to beef 'up the Pakistani die-
tatorship, to establish military bases in the
Middle East and Africa, and to squander more
millions on the war budget.
The American people show no eagerness to
sacrifice forCarter's campaign. Farmers, who
hve been most directly affected, are the most
vocal.

0


'The issue is not Soviet intervention, but a growing U. S. in-
tervention-aimed at taking back the gains won by the Afghan
mases-thatfinally forced the Soviet government to respond.'

"

Washington's hostile reaction was not limited
to economics. Especially after the new gover-
nment's land reform got under way, armed ac-
tions began against it. These guerrilla bands
are portrayed as "Muslimrebels" opposed to an
atheist regime. This is another of Washington's
falsifications. The majority of the country's
population who support the government are
also Muslims. And as the London Economist
admitted last year, "No restrictions had been
imposed on religious practice." (September 11,
1979).x
THE REAL REASONS for the fighting lie
elsewhere. Who are these so-called Muslim
rebels? They are former feudal landlords, for-
mer military officers, monarchists, opium and
heroin dealers, smugglers, money-lenders, and
others whose privileges and power are
threatened by the gains of the majority.
An "Afghan rebel leader" profiled in the
January 8 Wall Street Journal, for example,
turns out to be a rich landlord with thirty-five
houses. He is fighting because the new gover-
nment took over thirty-four ofnhis houses, ex-
plaining that he only needed one.

ANOTHER METHOD OF financing the
Afghan rightists is the international heroin
trade. This detestable business was also used
by the CIA to finance pro-U.S. mercenary ar-
mies in Laos.
Evidence has appeared in the international
press that the CIA is directly involved in the
training of Afghan rightists. One of the
guerrilla leaders, a U.S. citizen named Ziya
Nezri, visited the State Department in early
March to request U.S. support.
With this powerful array of international for-
ces ranged against the revolution, the Afghan
government turned to the Soviet Union for aid.
Money and advisers were provided. When it
looked like the imperialist-backed forces might
pull off a bloody Chile-style counterrevolution
right on its southern border, Soviet troops
came in.
SO THE ISSUE is not Soviet intervention, but
a growing U.S. intervention-aimed at taking
back the gains won by the Afghan masses-that
finallydforced the Soviet government to
respond.

Russell Arndt, head of the National Corn
Growers Assocition, asserted, "a cutoff of sales
and delivery of grain to the U.S.S.R. is the
heaviest blow to Americas agricultural
producers ... since the Great Depression."
A REPRESENTATIVE of the American
Agricultural movement explained, "There is
no country that will deal with us with any con-
fidence" if Carter's embargo goes through.
Some farmers have begun to raise the idea of
a new tractorcade to Washington to protest
their victimization by Carter's policies.
For American workers and farmers, the way
to promote peace is to support the gains of the
Afghan masses. We should reject the demand
to sacrifice for Carter's drive against the I
Afghan revolution.
We should oppose any attempt by the U.S.
government to intervene in Afghanistan, either
directly or by bolstering the regime in
Pakistan. We should call for the immediate
resumption of full, trade and diplomatic
relations with the Soviet Union.



Spacey Jane
OMPH NRA

Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom

Vol. XC, No. 88

News Phone: 764-0552

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

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WILL WEi
C(PERIENCE
RELATIV flY?
F tee..

By Tom Stevens
Bur YoUR
TkExA AY'

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LSA-SG must address
problems at home first

I

l

of i iw 1 I.E
Laor working forte public.

VEN BEFORE the New Year's
celebration was over, the turning
of the decade brought this institution
an unpleasant dose of fresh reality.
Within a brief but ominous five-day
stretch, the painful financial future of
the University became evident in two
related and disturbing developments.
The fiscal restraint and budgetary
sacrifices that will characterize this
decade began to show themselves
Tuesday, when we learned of a record
13.2 per cent jump in next year's dor-
mitory rates. And, as if that weren't
enough, on Wednesday it was reported
that the economics department is now
facing overcrowding in many of its im-
portant upper level classes.
Yet, these dismal portents seem to
have passed the LSA Student Gover-
nment (LSA-SG) by. The members ap-
pear to be living in the past. Perhaps
no one has told them that the Univer-
sity will face countless decisions in the
next* few years that will shape the
future of education here. Perhaps the
government just doesn't want to
believe the future will be dark.
On Wednesday night, 48 hours after
the. dorm hike hit the headlines, the
student government met; there was no
discussion of the near $300 hike that
will affect many of the LSA-SG's con-
stituents. True, two days may be too
little time to adopt a serious resolution
to meet the crisis, but a few words of
commentary and a vow to tackle the

to sell its investments in firms doing
business in South Africa. How manyI
times have we heard that song in the
past, to the exclusion of other, more
immediate problems that cry out to be
heard? Although divestiture is fair and
right, LSA-SG should devote its time to
solving crises at home.
LSA-SG must assume a prominent
role in University governance and act
as a viable forum for student input. The
difficult cutback decisions of this
decade must not be made without
student input; if LSA-SG doesn't press
for such involvement, students will be
left by the wayside as many popular
programs are either eliminated or
reduced to help keep the University
afloat.
When the new government took over
in November, dreams of a more
responsive leadership seemed at-
tainable. President Dan Solomon and
his aides were determined, they said;
to build a better campus for students.
It's still early, but if LSA-SG doesn't
soon deal with the realities of the 1980s,
student needs will once again be set
on the back burner while the important
decisions are made by the ad-
ministration and the faculty.
01 b ifigan BMW
EDITORIAL STAFF
Sue Warner................................EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Richard Berke. Julie Rovner.........EMANAGINGEDITORS
Michael Arkush. Keith Richburg..... EDITORIAL DIRECTORS

Unlike America's entrance into
the preceeding three decades,
our -entrance into the 1980's is
marked by economic uncertain-
ty. Inflation continues to soar.
Unemployment is high in com-
,parison with many other in-
dustrializedtnations. Economic
growth has stagnated. Essential
raw materials have become
scarce.
Conventionial policies, too, have
become inappropriate methods of
dealing with these problems. To
combat inflation, the American
government raises interest rates
jeopardizing small businesses
and the construction industry,
both of which depend on loans to
maintain themselves. The
resulting recessionary effect also
seves to increase employment.
ATTEMPTS TO cope with
energy shortages have resulted
in the continued production of
nuclear fission reactors and the
dismantling of environmental
regulations and protections
designed to assure the physical
health and well-being of
Americans.
The United States has suc-
cessfully passed through other
periods of economic uncertainty
to become the richest nation in
the world today, but each time it
has required that a new set of
economic policies be instatuted.
As the depression of the 1930s
ushered in the active
manipulation of monetary and
fiscal policy, a new set of policies
must be enacted in the 1980s to
cope with energy shortages, the

By Robert Leighton

HIS FAILINGS seem to have
lent credence to the cries to
reduce the government's in-
volvement in the economy and to
incease the reliance on the
market and private investment to
help maximize the welfare of
Americans. A quick look at many
of the planned eonomies will
reveal that a government can ef-
ficiently runaan economy.
A recent article in Business
Week also suggested that many
American industrialists have
recognized the need for some
form of a central economic plan-
ning bureau. Here in America it
is also easy to see that the cor-
porate pursuit of profits is not
identical .to the promotion of
welfare in America.
Oil companies have failed to
invest adequately in alternative
sources of energy. But, gover-
nment regulations have not been
the deterrence. Instead, oil com-
panies have chosen to re-invest
their huge pofits in areas where
the returns on investments are
highest regardless of the im-
plications for the American
economy and the American con-
sumer.
MANY F I RMS in the steel in-
dustry have allowed their mills to
run down. They have taken
capital depreciation tax credits
and steel profits and have fun-
neled them into industries where
the rate of return on investments
is highest. This has served to

were lost due to the closing of
nearly four thousand plants bet-
ween 1967 and 1973. These
closings have served to decimate
many communities' tax bases,
requiring a reduction in public
services and in the quality of
education.
In short, corporate interests
can in no way be equated with the
citizen's interests, consumer in-
terests, the environmentalist's
interests, or the worker's in-
terests.
SOME ATTEMPTS have been
made to legislate corporate
social responsibility. Here in
Michigan, Perry Bullard (D-Ann
Arbor) has sponsored the Com-
munity Job and Business Preser-
vation Act. In Washington, a Cor-
porate Democracy Act is now
being drafted that will be intor-
duced to Congess in the near
future. However, the passage of
these bills, as well as other pieces
of legislation framed within the
public's interest, is extremely
doubtful.
Corporations will be spending a
record thirty million dollars on
political campaigns this year.
Millions of additional dollars will
be directed at lobbying efforts
designed to promote the interests
of Big Business.
Today, organized labor stands
as the significant countervailing
force to Big Business and the
growing strength of the
American Far Right. William

coming to the realization that it
must make alliances with other
progressive forces to achieve
constructive policy alternatives
that are founded in the public in-
terest. In recent years, this has
been- manifested in the
establishment of the Citizens
Labor Energy Coalition and the
Progressive Alliance. Robert
Georgine of the one time pro-
Vietnam and still pro-nuclear
Building and Construction
TradesgDepartment has also
come to realize the need for
coalition and has been looking,
within and outside the labor
movement for allies.
Today and tomorrow, a con-
ference will be held at the
Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor.
that will bring togther more
than one thousand working trade
unionists, students, and
educators fromsacross the coun-
try at the largest gathering of
American labor leaders on a
University. campus in over two
decades.
Entitled "The 1980s: Plight or
'Prosperity?" this event has been
publicized as a major national
conference on the future of the
American Labor Movement.
However, the scope of the con-
ference is much broader. It will
confront many of the key issues
that America faces today, and it
will expose and develop many of
the strategies designed to cope
with these problems. Most impor-
tantly, this conference will help
bridge the schism that has
existed between working people